The Toy Shop

One foggy Christmas Eve the town clock struck 11.  The whole town was asleep and the moon was dazzling in the bright sky.  In the middle of the old town stood an enchanted ancient toy shop.  On the outside it was very damp and dusty and inside the shop was very dark, still, draughty with many cobwebs hanging all over the place.  You could tell no one had been in the shop for years.  There were many rats, cockroaches and spiders.  The whole place was very mysterious and very very quiet.

Looking sad and lonely, the wooden toy soldier was standing to attention better than the rest.  He had shiny black boots and a sparkling red uniform with ironed black trousers.  He was all covered in dust as he had been in the toy shop for decades.

Wrapped around itself, the old fashioned wooden yo yo was lying on a dark shelf, under a dark wooden leaky roof.  The yo yo was painted yellow, red, green, blue and pink.  The yo yo had sat on that shelf for years.  The yo yo was wooden and had yellow striped string.  On the shelf there were all sorts of creepy crawlies and beasties like spiders, daddy long legs and even rats.

Flopping to the side, the beautiful stunning rag doll sat there with a devious look in her eyes.  She was totally covered in dust.  When the shop was open over five years ago nobody wanted to buy her because she was damp and smelly.  She looked sad and pale although she had painted on rosy cheeks.

The spinning top sat on its side on the old wooden dusty table.  It sat there cold like frozen ice all covered in dust as it had been sitting there for years.  Although the toy shop was locked the spinning top was slightly moving from the draught coming in from the crack on the broken window.

Standing very tired on the top shelf stood the jack in the box with its rosy cheeks.  It looked as if it had a smirk on its face about to do something really naughty.

Standing tall and very still, the elegant, graceful emotional ballerina stood in her beautifully hand crafted wooden box.  Her tutu twinkled in the moonlight.  Her satin ballet shoes shone. She looked so elegant but sad as she had been in the shop for so long.

Suddenly the clock struck midnight and …

...the toy solider came alive and marched all the way towards the front door. He looked outside and saw so many new things.

The yoyo fell off the shelf landing on top of the soldier. It’s yellow, blue, red, green and pink string wrapped around the solider knocking him down.

Then the rag doll sat up, twirled around and began to sing a lullaby in a quiet voice. When she had finished singing she danced her way over to the spinning top, knocking it over onto the floor.

There was a loud noise and the jack in the box fell from the top shelf. The box smashed into pieces.

High above the other toys the ballerina spun to the music from inside the box. She cried out loudly for her friend jack in the box. All of the toys…

... were now alive. The rag doll went to see if the jack in the box was ok. The toy soldier wandered slowly out of the old shop door into the snowy wonderland. He was followed outside, by his magical friends, deep into the sparkly snowy night. It was a cold crisp feeling that came over them as they were going into the unknown. Never before had the toy shop friends been outside into this world, they had only dreamt all about it whilst they sat on their old, dusty shelves waiting to be taken home by the happy children who passed the window.

The rag doll thought this was amazing, as she had never imagined what outside would be like. She was excited to be there.

The toy soldier took the lead and decided to march his toy shop friends down the mysterious street. By now the street lights were starting to switch off and the sun was rising. They were aware that people would start to be coming onto the street. 

The friends sneaked by the rest of the shops which looked better the their old, withered toy shop. They passed a new looking to shop and gazed in amazement at the wonderful and exciting toys, which were in the window.

They wished they were part of the shop. As they turned to walk away…

...magically the door opened with a creak. The toys turned in amazement. Quietly they tiptoed into the brand new shop. The toys decided to go into the shop.  They couldn’t believe what they were seeing:  a new version of every single one of them.

The toy soldier waddled up to his new friend and said, “Let’s play at shooting!”

The yoyo rolled up to his double and they rolled away together chasing each other happily.

The rag doll toddled gently up to her new friend and said, “You are pretty, let’s play together.”

The spinning top raced over spinning wildly towards his partner.  They glided across the floor together gleefully.

The jack in the box bounced crazily over to his twin.  They stood and knocked heads together laughing manically.

The ballerina danced gracefully over to her new companion and they danced together joyfully.

After a while they sat for a rest together.  The old rag doll was sitting sobbing.

“What’s wrong?” asked the new ballerina
“It’s just that you all look so new and wonderful whereas we look old and dusty.  No one will ever want to buy us,” she said desperately.
“I have an idea!” exclaimed the new rag doll.  “Why don’t we fix up the old toys to look just like us?  Then people will buy them eventually.”
“Yes, let’s get to it!” shouted the new toy soldier.

They set to work fixing them up one by one.  Once they had finished they suddenly saw daylight coming in through the window.  It was time to get on the shelves again.

In the morning the shopkeeper was cleaning up before going home for his Christmas dinner.  He peered up at his empty shelves and was puzzled.

At that moment a sleigh passed over the shop.  Each of the toys hung over the edge of Santa’s sleigh and waved at their old home on their way to their new homes on the other side of the world.

“HO HO HO, MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!”